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DES MOINES REGISTER, SUNDAY, NOV. 3, 1929. 248 Banks Being Liquidated by State Are Paying Depositors 53 Per Cent ANDREW LAUDS BANKING HEADS Liquidation Cost in State Is Low. (Continued From Page 1.) through the courtesy of the state banking department, which prepared Individual receivers appointed by the courts take charge of all closed national and private banks Receivers for state banks pointed in the same way before the legislature made the state sus perintendent of banking for all closed banks in 1923 at the request of and upon submission of receivership bill by the Iowa Bankers association. A list of all the national and private banks in Iowa closed between 1918 and 1928 and of state banks closed between 1918 and 1923 accompanies the table. Details similar to those given for state banks closed between 1923 and 1929 are not available for the national and private banks. 481 Banks Close Doors. Between 1918 and July 15. 1929. 481 banks closed their doors in Iowa. Seventy-six of these banks reopened, reorganized. consolidated or voluntarily liquidated. leaving 405 to go through receivership. or the banks closed. 322 were state banks. 84 were national banks and 75 were private banks The What Cheer Farmers Union Co-operative bank the first cooperative bank, also closed Jan. 1939 Twelve state banks and four national banks reopened: fortytwo state banks and four nationtional banks and one private bank merged with other banks. and two national banks and six private banks voluntarily liq- Figures Unavailable. What has happened to the state banks during the period of greatest banking difficulties must stand as the illustration for the whole case of banking failures until comparable figures on the liquidation of national and private banks are obtainable. The story of the liquidation of state banks, however, is one of the largest number of closings and the chief difference between It and the story of the liquidation of other banks probably will be that percentage of state bank liquidation has been larger, due to reduced overhead in group reWhile heavy losses were austained in state bank failures, the amounts involved are smaller than is commonly assumed. For instance. the assets of closed banks in receivership under state supervision represent only about per cent of the assets of all Iowa banks. The deposits in state banks in receivership. since the payments of dividends. amount to only about per cent of the total bank de- Liquidation Cost Low. Iowa has established a remarkably low record cost liquidation of closed banks. The cost per dollar of total realiza tion on assets has been under 5 per cent. startling feature of Iowa's bank liquidation 18 the fact that the has been selfsupporting According to Mr. Andrew, enough interest and rent has been collected to pay the entire cost of the receiverships, and in numerous instances the receiverships actually have been conducted at profit. What happened with the receiverships of the two largest state banks which closed in Iowa is illustrative of the achievement of closing out banks at profit. In the liquidation of the Iowa Loan & Trust company of Des Moines, receipts from interest and rents have exceeded cost of the receivership by nearly $124 000 The profit in the Marshalltown State bank receivership has been $42,000 to date. Total to Be 70. Incidentally, the Iowa Loan & Trust company will pay another 10 per dividend before Christmas, bringing the total paid to 70 per cent, since dividends totalling 60 per cent have now been paid. The State bank now has paid 85 per cent dividends, and neither receivership is closed up. Compromise which were mentioned above. have in creased returns to depositors, directly or indirectly which do not show in the cash dividends any more than set-offs appear Many thousands dollars have been paid in for depositors through compromise settlements when the debtor was judgment proof Mr. Andrew said Satur day "No compromises or settlements have been made. he ex. plained. "without first being submitted to the courts on advertised notice and nothing has been done until the court has instructed the receiver. In many cases, it is a question of getting one-half or one-fourth of the claim or nothing. but despite pressure to force settlement. none has been made without approval "There has been no forced selling of assets, which has resulted in prolonging some receiverships, but will result in a better return to the depositors. Two Courses Open. "In the liquidation of a bank the receiver always has two classes of persons urging him to do things in the way in which they insist they should be done "The first class wants immediate liquidation at any price and its money back in as short time as possible It would rather have fifty cents on the dollar in hur. ry than seventy-five cents after two three years. Some Wait for More. "The other class insists on slow and careful liquidation. preferring to wait years. If necessary. to get more return on the dollar "The receivership department has tried to steer a good middle